The 68th World Health Assembly to be held on 18-26 May 2015
This coming week Mr José Luis Castro, Executive Director of The Union, and Dr I.D. Rusen, Senior Vice President – Research and Development, will represent The Union at the 68th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland on 18-26 May 2015. Prior to the meeting, Dr Paula I Fujiwara, Scientific Director, explained why this event is so pivotal in setting the agenda for global health -- and important to The Union’s work.
What is the World Health Assembly?
- Each year, delegations from the 194 World Health Organization Member States gather In Geneva, Switzerland for the World Health Assembly (WHA). The formal role of the WHA is to serve as the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) that determines WHO policies, appoints its Director-General, supervises its financial policies and reviews and approves the proposed programme budget.
Why does The Union take part?
- While the WHA is the formal venue for Ministers of Health from the Member States to debate and ratify the health policies that they commit their countries to follow, side meetings on a variety of issues are also held to take advantage of their presence. The WHA is the one time of the year when these “movers and shakers” in world health are all in one place to discuss health as a whole – and consequently it offers an invaluable opportunity for all stakeholders, including The Union, to lobby for their issues and help shape the future of global health.
- Each WHA focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the WHO Executive Board. This year, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a top agenda item with reports on conferences and research studies, as well as follow-up to the 2014 high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, which undertook a comprehensive review and assessment of the progress achieved in the prevention and control of NCDs. This issue is of prime importance to The Union not only because it involves lung diseases and other NCDs that are linked to tuberculosis, but also because of our focus on tobacco control. Tobacco use is a major risk factor for a wide range of NCDs.
Why the focus on NCDs this year?
- NCDs have become the #1 killer across all countries and socioeconomic groups, causing 35 million deaths each year. In countries, such as China and India, where the population is rising out of poverty, health issues formerly associated with first-world countries are now on the increase – for example, obesity and chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cancers and asthma) and health-related challenges, such as road safety.
- The period for addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ends in 2015, and they will be replaced by a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will be finalised later this year. Competition among interest groups has been very heavy to have their issues represented in the SDGs, and The Union has worked hard on behalf of NCDs through its involvement in the NCD Alliance and the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.
How does The Union's work fit in with this NCD-focused agenda?
- Lung diseases, such as asthma and child pneumonia, have long been the focus of Union technical assistance, operational research and education. With tobacco use a major risk factor for NCDs, our tobacco control activities are closely to this agenda as well. In 2010, The Union became a principal partner in the NCD Alliance, joining the campaign that led to the 2011 High-Level Ministerial Meeting on NCDs at the UN. In September 2015, José Castro will become the Chair of the NCD Alliance Steering Group, continuing our close involvement with this issue.
Is there a relationship between NCDs and TB?
- Tuberculosis, which is an airborne infectious disease, has been linked to other diseases where people’s immune systems are suppressed. People with diabetes mellitus (DM) are three times more like to develop active tuberculosis and respond less well to treatment. With the population of people who have DM now close to 400 million, this link is a major concern for TB control.
- Since obesity is a risk factor for DM, down the line, obesity is also linked to an increased risk for TB.
- People who smoke are also at increased risk of developing TB and more likely to relapse after completing TB treatment. Tobacco use is also a major risk factor for a host of NCDs, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the exacerbation of asthma.
What is the best way forward in a landscape with high rates of both communicable and non-communicable diseases? What should we be prioritising?
- As a TB organisation, The Union must continue to advocate for TB, which remains a major health problem. However, in today’s context, we must show how TB control is inextricably linked to meeting goals related to broader health issues, such as NCDs. We are very active in China and India, two of the countries affected heavily by both issues, and our research, such as testing the value of bidirectional screening for TB and DM, is already having a positive impact on policy and practice.
What outcomes are you hoping for from this year’s WHA?
- The Union, through The Union North America, is at the table at the UN in New York to help craft the language of the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this effort, we are drawing on our experience with developing tobacco control policy and applying the same principles to chronic diseases. For example, the global food industry is attempting to influence what should be in the SDGs, in the same way that the tobacco industry attempts to interfere in tobacco control efforts. This is a broad health concern, but also our concern because processed foods are linked to obesity, which is in turn linked to metabolic diseases such as DM, which is linked to TB!! It’s all part of a whole.